What is the difference between Buddhism and Judaism?

WOOHOO: What is the difference between Buddhism and Judaism?
So this is for my religion class.. I don’t know too much between the two religion.
How would you criticize Buddhism from the perspective of Judaism? How might someone practicing Judaism criticize Buddhism by arguing that Buddhism is not a religion?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Doc
The swastika would be a good start

Answer by i’m not mike
Buddhists believe in reincarnation.

Answer by דניאל
We never have, and never will tell someone their religion is wrong. To all the people who think we dislike religions because they are different, you know nothing about Judaism, yet you still feel as though you are allowed to judge us, and make assumptions that are not true. I am sorry for my harsh language, but I am tired of so many people thinking we are like that.

Answer by James W
there’s no comparisons lets just say that

Answer by Snouty
Buddhism is a “way of life” on ending suffering achiveable through human’s endeavor. While Judaism is a religion based on the Supernatural.

Answer by Sirius
They were ‘Religions’ that were created way after the fact of the ancient Hebrew belief and worship of God Yahweh of the Israelites. Judaism is not the same as the belief of Moses and the Israelites.

Answer by Groovy
You couldn’t have picked two religions that were so different from each other.

Answer by Secret Atheist Jew JPA
I don’t know a lot about Buddhism, but let me give you the foundation of Judaism.

Judaism is the belief in one god…. Jesus and the holy spirit have no correlation with Judaism, not at all. He was not acknowledged in the Tanakh and is imaginary to most of us, you know like how Christians view Hindu gods. We follow the Tanakh (5 books of Moses and the Torah) and this is a very long book, on a side note the OT is not the Jewish book that is a mistranslated abridged Christian version of the Tanakh.

I could go on and on, but I don’t feel like it.

Answer by Shea
Buddhism doesn’t have to be criticized. It should be respected- it’s a religion that advocates inner peace and kindness towards others.
Someone from the Judaism belief might be against Buddhism simply because of differing views on what ‘God’ is, but that’s all I can think of. Unless, of course a person is closed-minded. That depends on the individual.

Answer by TMG QA
These two religions might seems similar at first glance, but they actually have their differences. A major difference is that Judaism believes in one god, where as buddhism have their respect etc etc towards the Buddha, who gave them all wisdom to ‘redeem’ themselves from suffering (which is somewhat similar to judaism)

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Answer by Maars
I don’t want to make the Jews mad or the Buddhists but will only say a few things.

Either of them could become atheistic because they are both lacking in truth so very much and this leads to thinking God must not exist at all. What they need is to find Jesus as their Messiah and to trust in him completely.

Now, the difference is the Buddhists believe in Buddha and they are considered idol worshipers but they will tell you they are not.
Whereas the Jews say they are looking for their Messiah but he already came and they didn’t recognize him. Instead they rejected him. And they will also say this is not true, but if they would read the New Testament which tells all about it, they would find the truth.

Answer by …
Buddhism is about how you need to care about nothing to reach nirvana. Judiasm is about how there is one god, Yahweh, and you should worship him. Both are relativly peacfull, but that’s the only similarity.

Answer by Lakely
If they start arguing among one another, I would suggest that the Buddhist is not a real Buddhist and the one practicing Judaism is not doing so well.

You might say to the teacher that a good religion does not end up with criticism. If he are she is a good teacher, they will have to agree with you. More on a genuine side of a religion is on my biography.

Answer by caughtstealin’
In true Buddhist teaching, the closer answer would be something like:

Since the buddhist belief is that all is one, then there is no difference betwen these two belief systems at all. Or more specifically, when it comes to spiritual pathways to the divine, “All rivers ultimately run into the same ocean.”

thanks for your question

Answer by Tommy H
Many think that both religions are good, though each was interpreted and taught uniquely to different regions in ancient time.

Good religious disciples don’t criticize the teaching because the teaching is sacred, but can criticize the rituals and the routines that people do.

Many scandals become publicly known in the Western churches: from bishops, pastors, and fathers. The scandals including greed and child molestation have tarnished the reputation of the churches. The damage to the foundation of the belief is far greater. It affects the church followers greatly because the tainted preachers delivered bad energy to the church goers. The routine formality and rituals become a social event where people gather not for essence of the faith: seriously studying the Bible, uplifting the moral character, … etc.

On the other hands, many westerners have little idea of what authentic Buddhist belief is about. Some westerners think that Buddhist belief is a philosophy. People in the Western faith often remain ignorant about the Buddhist belief partially due to the Bible’s protectionism teaching. Many Buddhist monks have stayed in low profile and remained mostly isolated in the monasteries or temples. The behavior of the and the famous Dalai Lama also reflects very well in the public.

The recent killing of the Tibetan monks by the Chinese Communist regime also has demonstrated peacefulness of the monks, despite years of persecution. Another notable group is the Falun Gong practitioners. For the past nine years, the Falun Gong followers has been severely persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime. One of worst offensive human right violations is the organ harvesting against live sedated prisoners, who practice Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual meditation exercise. Today, Falun Gong practitioners continue to protest in peace to stop further persecution.

Recent comeback of the Buddhist belief in India has taken place. Many Hindi converted to Buddhism. Falun Gong has spread into churches and schools. Portion of the Falun Gong scripture becomes standard in new school textbooks. Students are learning Falun Gong meditation and movements exercises is PE classes.

Answer by frummum
There’s a whole book on it ‘Letters to a Buddhist Jew’ by Rabbi Akiva Tatz.
Buddhism seeks the concept of enlightenment via meditation and other forms of inner searching. Judaism understands that Buddhism is a ‘purely spiritual’ practice.
Judaism, however, uses the physical to attain spirituality, for example, by saying blessings before and after eating, by enjoying a physical relationship within the bounds of marriage and other laws, by enjoying wine but ensuring it is kosher, i.e. Judaism believes that in order to obtain lasting spirituality, it is necessary to experience and enjoy physicality.
I would argue that Buddhism is not a religion as it doesn’t appear to have a God or gods, just a pursuit of enlightenment as a goal.